N-(2-phenylethyl)succinamic acid (PESA) is taught as an active ingredient of a plant growth regulator in WO 99/45774, which describes that amido acids including N-(phenylethyl)succinamic acid (PESA) are root growth promoters.
A variety of herbicides are used to kill unwanted plants (weeds) in crop fields, lawns, greenhouses or orchards. Typically, these herbicides are sprayed and subsequently incorporated into the soil (pre-emergence) or onto the plants (post-emergence).
Herbicides can be expensive, and their use may result in unintended consequences such as groundwater contamination, crop damage, environmental damage, spray drift, and human and mammalian health concerns. In particular, protection of young seedlings and plants from pre-emergence herbicides would reduce or avoid unintended herbicidal effects such as delayed early growth and stunting.
There are many classes of herbicides that may be grouped based on their mode of action. One class of herbicides of particular interest is dinitoanalines. These compounds inhibit the assembly of microtubules, and consequently inhibit cell division. These compounds are active on grasses and small-seeded broadleaf weeds. Examples of this class of herbicides are trifluralin and pendimethalin. Trifluralin is marketed in the US under the trade name Treflan® (Dow Agrosciences, Indianapolis, Ind. USA), while pendimethalin is marketed under the trade name Prowl® (BASF Agricultural Products, Research Triangle Park, N.C. USA). Another class of herbicides of interest is pyridines, which inhibit cell division at the growing points in both the roots and shoots of target plants. An example of a pyridine herbicide is dithiopyr, which is marketed in the US as Dimension® (Dow Agrosciences, Indianapolis, Ind. USA).
Several other classes of herbicides are of commercial importance and are also of interest insofar as one can protect crop plants from them without negatively affecting their herbicidal activity on weeds. These include inhibitors of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, such as clodinafop-propargyl, inhibitors of plant cell division, such as metolachlor; auxinic herbicides, such as dicamba, and protoporphyrinogen oxidase inhibitors such as flumioxazin.
It is an object of the present invention to protect or safen crops, turf or ornamental plants from unintended herbicidal consequences of herbicide application. It is also an object of this invention to lessen the effects of spray drift on non-target species when these herbicides are used.